Rudolf Kelterborn (3 September 1931 – 24 March 2021) was a

Swiss Swiss may refer to: * the adjectival form of Switzerland * Swiss people Places * Swiss, Missouri * Swiss, North Carolina *Swiss, West Virginia * Swiss, Wisconsin Other uses *Swiss-system tournament, in various games and sports *Swiss Internation ...

musician and composer.

Life

Born in

Basel , french: link=no, Bâlois(e), it, Basilese , neighboring_municipalities= Allschwil (BL), Hégenheim (FR-68), Binningen (BL), Birsfelden (BL), Bottmingen (BL), Huningue (FR-68), Münchenstein (BL), Muttenz (BL), Reinach (BL), Riehen (BS ...

, Kelterborn studied in Basel,

Detmold Detmold () is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, with a population of . It was the capital of the small Principality of Lippe from 1468 until 1918 and then of the Free State of Lippe until 1947. Today it is the administrative center of ...

Salzburg Salzburg (, ; literally "Salt-Castle"; bar, Soizbuag, label=Bavarian language, Austro-Bavarian) is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020, it had a population of 156,872. The town is on the site of the ...

, and

Zürich Zürich () is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zürich. It is located in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zürich. As of January 2020, the municipality has 43 ...

, among other places, with the composers Walther Geiser,

Willy Burkhard Willy Burkhard (17 April 1900 – 18 June 1955) was a Swiss composer and academic teacher, influential in both capacities. He taught music theory at the Berne Conservatory and the Zürich Conservatory. His works include an opera, oratorios, cantat ...

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Günter Bialas Günter Bialas (19 July 1907 – 8 July 1995) was a German composer. Life Bialas was born in Bielschowitz (today Bielszowice, a subdivision of Ruda Śląska) in Prussian Silesia. His father was the business manager of a German theatre, and his ...

, and

Wolfgang Fortner Wolfgang Fortner (12 October 1907 – 5 September 1987) was a German composer, composition teacher and conductor. Life Fortner was born in Leipzig. From his parents, who were both singers, Fortner very early on had intense contact with music. ...

. In his own teaching career, Kelterborn has served as a lecturer and professor at a number of music colleges in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and in Switzerland, where he directed the Basel Music Academy from 1983 to 1994. Kelterborn also headed the music division of Swiss German radio from 1974 to 1980. Farther afield, Kelterborn held guest lecturerships in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's most populous country, with a population exceeding 1.4 billion, slightly ahead of India. China spans the equivalent of five time zones and ...

, and

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic connotations. The vast majority of the region is covered by Russ ...

. His works have been performed throughout Europe, the United States, and Japan, and he was also active as a conductor on the international scene. He died in Basel aged 89.

Works

Kelterborn's oeuvre covers many different

musical genres This is a list of music genres and styles. Music can be described in terms of many music genre, genres and styles. Classifications are often arbitrary, and may be disputed and closely related forms often overlap. Larger genres and styles comprise ...

and includes five

opera Opera is a form of theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically a collaboration between a composer and a librett ...

orchestra An orchestra (; ) is a large instrumental ensemble typical of classical music, which combines instruments from different families. There are typically four main sections of instruments: * bowed string instruments, such as the violin, viola, c ...

l works (some with solo instruments, voices, or

electronics The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

, and vocal works. His four-act opera ''

Der Kirschgarten ''Der Kirschgarten'' (The Cherry Orchard) is an opera in four acts by the Swiss composer Rudolf Kelterborn. The German-language libretto was written by the composer and is based on Gudrun Düwel's German translation of Anton Chekhov's 1904 play ' ...

'' inaugurated the newly rebuilt

Zürich Opera House The Zürich Opera House (german: Opernhaus Zürich, links=no) is an opera house in the Swiss city of Zürich. Located at the Sechseläutenplatz, it has been the home of the Zürich Opera since 1891, and also houses the Bernhard-Theater Zürich. ...

in 1984.Thomas Meyer
"Erinnerungen an eine «grüne Oper»"
in ''Dissonance'', issue 115 (2011), pp. 32-37; retrieved 5 December 2013 .

References

* Andreas Briner: ''Rudolf Kelterborn: Komponist, Musikdenker, Vermittler'' (Grümlingen: Zytglogge Verlag, 1993); * Michael Kennedy: ''The Oxford Dictionary of Music'' (2006); * Dino Larese: ''Rudolf Kelterborn: Eine Lebensskizze'' (Amriswil: Amriswiler Bücherei, 1970).

External links

Kelterborn's official homepage (in German)
* *Sound recordings of works of the composer from the archives of Swiss Radio

SRG SSR The Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (german: Schweizerische Radio- und Fernsehgesellschaft; french: Société suisse de radiodiffusion et télévision; it, Società svizzera di radiotelevisione; rm, Societad Svizra da Radio e Televisiun; SRG ...

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1931 births 2021 deaths 20th-century classical composers 20th-century conductors (music) 20th-century male musicians 21st-century classical composers 21st-century conductors (music) 21st-century male musicians Hochschule für Musik Detmold faculty Male conductors (music) Swiss classical composers Swiss conductors (music) Swiss male classical composers 20th-century Swiss composers 21st-century Swiss composers {{switzerland-composer-stub